Our team
Interserve has recruited an operational team with experience covering both custodial and community services, with the skills required to deliver the resourcing, innovation and operational effectiveness sought by governments.
Our justice team is highly experienced in the operation of large prisons, probation and community rehabilitation both from a public and private perspective and has personal experience in:
- Delivery assurance of the performance of all prison establishments and Probation Trusts within England and Wales through direct line management or under contract
- Governing and managing prison establishments across the High Security, Cat B, Cat C and Cat D estates
- The justice sector including the public sector (HMPS, NOMS the former National Probation Service and the Probation Inspectorate), private sector and social enterprises
- The international criminal justice arena in North and Central America, Europe, Middle East, South Africa and Australia - collecting and distributing best practice ideas across the globe
- Leadership of prison and probation in England and Wales focused on providing better for less, running the most efficient and effective prisons in the country through the use of public sector commissioning, and strong cost management
Meet the team
Yvonne Thomas, Managing Director - Justice, is an experienced senior leader, who has operated at board level within NOMS, as Operations Director and Director of Offender Management. Yvonne brings strong commercial, operational, programme and change management skills gained in both the public and private sectors. LinkedIn profile
Rob Kellett, Operations Director, joins from the National Offender Management Service where he has spent over 30 years in the management of large and complex prisons. He was also previously Head of Contracted Prisons.
Steve Taylor, Director of Custody, has over 20 years' experience in public and private custodial services, most recently at Forest Bank Prison. He has a particular interest in the development of stakeholder relationships to deliver reductions in re-offending.
Simon Taylor, Commercial Director, joins from private sector firm Sodexo, where he developed the management systems for PFI and prison contracts. He also negotiated the innovative 'PBR' Social Impact Bond at Peterborough Prison on behalf of the PFI company.
Additional expertise
Interserve has also retained Trevor Williams, the former Director of Operations, Director of High Security and Head of Contracted Prisons for HMPS and subsequently NOMS.
For probation, community and strategy advice, Interserve has retained Christine Lawrie, the former Chief Executive of the Probation Association, and Ben Emm, who was Chief Officer of Bedfordshire and Head of the National Probation Improvement Agency.
Yvonne Thomas, Managing Director - Justice commented: "We believe we can make a significant contribution to the justice sector. The public and private-sector backgrounds of our team, combined with their strong operational track records, mean we see great scope for applying private-sector investment, flexibility and innovation to improve service provision.
"The payment-by-results (PbR) principle is particularly compelling. Interserve has experience operating this type of model with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Work Programme. We're determined that if our prison bids prove successful, the positive outcomes achieved for prisoners leaving an Interserve establishment can be accurately measured. Not only will this show how effective we and our delivery partners are. It will also underline the value for money we will provide for the taxpayer - and ultimately how, in partnership, we can help reduce re-offending."
